ForgetMe
by reicherunee
Summary: 'He was a bad, bad man that hurt you a lot.'
1. Chapter 1

For the first time, in a long, long time Jill felt hungry as she opened her eyes.

She got up, everything seems to be more vivid than usual, the colors at least. Looking around, everything felt looked the same, same small room, same rickety windows, even same small bed. Yawning, she pulled the covers off and made her way to the kitchen. 'Strange… 'She thought. 'I feel like I haven't been here in a long, long time. 'As she passed her mirror, Jill looked up and gasped.

Her face! It looked so gaunt! Her cheek bones showed, and her violet eyes were huge! And that birds nest on top of her head! 'It looks like I survived a zombie apocalypse movie.' Glancing at her sunken in cheeks, she winced. 'Scratch that, I look like _a_ zombie from said movie.' The only things looking alive were her eyes.

Stepping out of the house, she looked at her farm. The weeds made the property look even more desolate, and haunted. 'Geez, when did let this place go down the toilet?' A figure caught the corner of her eye and she immediately recognized him. Who couldn't though, his hunched shoulders and trade mark cloth. Strange, it feels like she hasn't seen him in a while

"Takakura! Hey, Takakura good morning!"

He whipped his head up, and literally gaped at her like she had a second head. "Uh….Takakura?"

"Jill! I-I wasn't expecting to see you up at this time." He still quickly made his way to her. "Are you feeling alright? Should I call Hardy?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"…..Well seeing as you barley left your house for, oh, about a year, let alone the farm-"

"Wait- what do you mean? "

"Jill, you haven't left this place since…. **he** died and frankly seeing you acting this normal scared me a little…"

She had a puzzled look on her face. "You mean since Dad died? That was years ago Takakura, somehow I think I should be over it."

Takakura was acting strange. 'Why would I be that depressed, Dad died 10 years ago. ' Takakura was looking at her as if she was insane. 'I better do something quick, it's pretty obvious that something's up and the only way to get to the bottom of this mess is to play along for now.'

"Takakura, I do still miss him a lot. But I think it's better for me to move on. By the sounds of it, how I was acting wasn't very healthy."

He stared at Jill with an unflinching, look, trying to read as much as he could. She fidgeted under his look. "Yeah…alright." He finally said after what seemed to be forever. "The first thing you should know then, is I had to sell the chickens about three months ago, you weren't taking care of them and we needed the money."

"WHAT?"

"Also, you should start clearing up the fields, it looks like shit."

The Harvest Goddess and Witch looked down from their hiding spot. For the first time in centuries, they both shared worry and hope for one goal, the young farmer.

"Witch, I know that this'll sound silly. But was this the right thing to do?"

The Witch Princess had an unreadable expression. Her crimson eyes hardened as she replied. "I'm not sure, her memories aren't buried too deep. So if something causes her memories to trigger…"

In silence the watched on. "All I know is, this is better for her. I don't give a rat's ass about the village." The Harvest Goddess glared at her sister. The Witch Princess continued, "But she's the only one who treated me with kindness, I can't stand to see her that heartbroken over that no good fu-"

"I get the point Witch." The Harvest Goddess stood up gracefully. "I just hope she's happy with her choice."


	2. Chapter 2

Two seasons has passed, yet Jill still felt as if she hasn't figured things out.

Literally, she got the same reaction from everybody since that fateful day. Of course, they all differed slightly. Motherly figures such as Ruby, Celia, and Chris seemed to bear a sort of sympathy for her but were otherwise happy. Everybody else just had the same reaction as Takakura, a what the hell type of reaction. But as the spring and summer seasons wore on, her "Reawakening" ,as her best friend Flora would call it, became old news. Things were relatively back to normal.

Jill knew pretty much what was going on in the village up until that foggy period. She vaguely remembered getting new that Nina had passed away, and Muffy and Griffin married. But other than that it's all an empty space. And it bugged her.

Jill smiled as she looked at her beautiful field one fall evening. It took many weeks of hard labor and reconstruction, but she had not only restored her fields to its former glory, but she had made her ranch even better. Her crops held the promise of rich reward for the end of the season, Jill had called Gotz (Who though she had died!) and he not only upgraded her coop, but built two barns and upgraded her little shack into a beautiful ranch house. She now was the proud owner of ten chickens, three cows, two sheep, and a horse (Who Takakura gave as her 19th birthday gift). Yeah, she was doing just fine. Jill scratched the head of her loyal dog, Kappa. Her own appearance had improved since that day. Her face wasn't as sunken and dead looking. Her cheeks had the old rosy color back and she looked alive.

Yet, she felt like something was missing. It was this feeling every time she saw one of the Forget-Me-Not couples together. 'Like a longing' she mused. Sure, she knew that a few guys had a thing for her. But she couldn't bring herself to fall in love with any of them. Jill only saw Rock, as a stupid little brother, Cliff as her shy best guy friend, and Marlin as her sullen, emo friend.

Another thing, she had strange quirks that she had no idea where she picked them up form. She got the same strange feeling every time she made curry. Like a small ach in her heart, yet she couldn't place where this came from. She remembered her family making curry for her birthday one year, but that was about it. Jill frowned at another thought. She also made late night walks around the Goddess pond. She could never remember doing this before the foggy period, but she does it now and it still puzzles her.

Shaking her head, she tried to get rid of these thoughts. It only made her head hurt to think of the unknown. Tightening up her scarf, Jill made her way to the Blue Bar, she had just been paid by the Annoying Mayor who STILL after all her hard work criticizes her.

Like earlier!

"_So how's life Jillian?" The Mayor of Mineral Town really did not like her. She hated being called that! And he knows it pisses her off to. With a sugary sweet smile, she replied, "I don't know Mayor Thomas, the same as ever though it must not be all that different then mine considering the fact that you still get my shipmen every day." He snapped. "Yeah, though it must be a little bit better, better than your affair with the __Phantom Skye__! By the way, your little thief is still on the run! That's right, he's still wanted! "_

_And just like that, the pain in her heart returned, but this time it wasn't an ache. It was as if someone decided to stab a piece of glass through her heart. What was going on? That name…why did it sound so familiar? She looked up at her much hated nemesis, but realized he did not have a smug look on his face, rather a frightened look, as if he said something that he shouldn't have. _

_Still keeping her composer, Jill shrugged. "Whatever you say Mr. Thomas. I really don't have time for affairs." _

It still bugged her. Why? Was this the key to her answer, what had made her lose her memory?

She needed answers. The bar would be the best place to start.

"Muffy, who is Phantom Skye?"

Muffy froze and dropped Gustafa's drink as Jill asked the question. Griffin, her husband cursed under his breath, not hearing Jill's question. "Dammit Muffy!" "S-sorry sweety." Muffy quickly grabbed Jill's hand and booked it to the storage room.

"What the hell was that about?"

"No idea Gustafa, would you like me to make you a new drink?"

"Muffy, what the hell was that about?"

"Shhhh!" Peaking around, Muffy made sure no one was near the door. "Jill that should be my question! Don't play stupid, and why would you ask about him?"

"Because Muffy, Mayor Thomas said something about him," Muffy rolls her eyes. "Yeah laugh it up Muffy, he's evil! But that's not the point. Muffy, I had no idea who he was talking about, but it may have something to do with my lost memory. I have to know, who was he talking about?" 'Please Muffy, please tell me.'

Muffy looked down, her golden hair was covering up her olive eyes, making her unreadable. "Jill, you really don't remember him do you?" "No, not a thing. What was he to me?" Muffy stayed silent for a minute. Looking at her friend, she said sadly, "Jill, it's not my place to tell you." Jill opened her mouth to say something but Muffy interrupted, "Hold on, let me finish."

"It's not my place to tell you, because I don't know how you managed to lose your memory of him, Jill. All I think I should tell you though is this, he was a bad, bad man that hurt you a lot. " Muffy paused to let the information sink in. "It's better to ask someone else, I'm sorry I can't tell you more." Muffy quietly left the storage room to go back to work, leaving Jill to wrap her thoughts around what Muffy told her.

'_He was a bad, bad man that hurt you a lot.' _

Far away from Forget-Me-Not valley, a man walks alone on a road. The silver moon light hit only his concealed face, but made his silver hair glow. His hair had gotten much longer, but still framed his beautiful face perfectly. Pushing back his hood, he looks at the sign with his emerald only for a moment, and continues on his way towards the tiny village. He comes up to a sign, _Forget-Me-Not Valley, 40 miles away. _


	3. Chapter 3

Jill noticed the sky looked dark. First snowfall was approaching fast, and she only had two days left till winter arrived, meaning she had no time to waste, she needed to ship the rest of her crops, stock up on animal feed and medicine, and chop fire wood. She sighed as she replayed her conversation with Muffy from a week ago. She had not asked anyone else for answers. 'I'm probably going to get the same reaction no matter who I ask.' She thought. But those words, they kept eating at her, making her thirst for an answer. 'Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.' She giggled at the rhyme game her mother and her father played with each other. 'I'm more like Dad. Curiosity always will prevail.'

Grabbing her toast and hot cocoa, Jill stepped out into the bitterly cold morning only to greet a strange sight in front of her.

A man was propped up against her shipping box. 'Is this some sick joke that Thomas is playing on me?' She quickly knelt beside him. 'No, even that jerk wouldn't do something this bad.'

The man looked cold, his lips slightly blue. He wore a stylish black jacket, dark purple pants and stylish glasses to complete his look. 'Must be from the city, a strange fellow at that.' she thought. He didn't look too much older than her, maybe around his early 20's. He had his head covered by a black beanie so it was hard to say what color hair he has, but the thing that made him stand out was his face.

It was so effeminate! Yet one could tell that he was a man, his shoulders were too broad to be a girl's. His skin was nearly as white as snow, yet he didn't look pasty, rather he looked like something not from this world. To put it simple, he was beautiful. Looking around, she realized this man may have been outside this entire night!

'Shit, I better do something before he freezes to death!' She had gotten a lot stronger from her farm work and with some of difficulty, she dragged him back into the house.

* * *

He didn't know where he was, but he was only thinking of how warm he felt. Was he dead? Dammit, he should've been smarter to know that sleeping outside was a bad idea. Especially since the police were out to get him! No wait, he's in someone's bed. Jail cell? Nah, this bed was too comfy. Perhaps some Good Samaritan? Preferably a rich Samaritan that he could 'borrow' from. Skye suddenly felt a presence next to him, and his instinct took over. He grabbed the small wrist, and with cat like reflexes, pinned the person down.

It was a woman who he pinned. Her pony tail, which had gotten a lot longer, was splayed across the bed and her violet eyes wide with shock. Her lips slightly parted. 'Good,' he thought. 'She looked a lot better since I left her that time…' He mentally thanked the Goddess for not letting her waste away any worse than the last time he checked on her.

Yes, with his luck, he just pinned Jill across the bed. Oh Goddess.

He smirked; she was his toy, his plaything. He loved manipulating her, making her blush furiously, stutter incomprehensible sentences, yet he could never hide himself from her. She always had the ability to see right past his fake intentions. No matter how much time may pass, he always knew that he was her's. She owned his heart and sadly he broke hers. "Heh, what a nice surprise to see you fair maiden-"

A sharp, sicking pain that he felt in his groin made him release his grip on her. She just kneed him in the balls. Hard. He rolled around the bed, groaning in pain. The next thing he knew was he felt something cold against his temple.

He was looking straight into a barrel of a gun. The amount of shock he had at that moment could have killed about twenty old people. She was dead serious, her voice completely dead-panned, her eyes were cold and did not recognize him. As if he was a stranger.

"You got about five seconds to tell me who you are, how you got to my farm, and why you just attacked me fucker."

* * *

Jill was shaking beneath all of that confidence that she displayed. Goddess knows that she had no idea how to work the gun, the only thing she knew was that if she pulled the trigger, this guy would be history. Her mind was reeling. When he pinned her she felt a million jolts of electricity ran through her. The pain in her heart came back with a vengeance. But it was the look in his eyes, that she couldn't shake it.

They were green. Not like Muffy's happy olive green eyes, or Karen's pine green eyes. No, they were cat like emeralds, twinkling with mischief. It was the emotion in them that did her in.

He looked at her with such longing, it frightened her.

Now though, he looked confused, like he was the small child walking in on his parents making love.

"My name…is Steiner, such a lovely maiden shouldn't be handling such a beastly weapon. It almost ruins your beauty. Perhaps if you lowered your weapon we can talk more ….civilly."

"Not a chance girly man, you still haven't answered my other questions."

He was quiet for a minute before Jill menacingly pressed the gun harder against his head. " I'm a traveler. I heard that this farm shows some…hospitality. So I came here, though I must have passed out from exhaustion before I had the chance to knock. And I 'attacked' you because it's a reflex of mine, I'm a traveler after all, I didn't want to get mugged. "

"Have you heard of the Inner Inn? That's where you should have gone, not here. " She lowered the gun from his head. "I'm sorry for fighting you, but there are reports of some thief running around close to here. You can't trust any stranger now a days."

The man seemed too quiet, as if calculating what to say next. "I'm very sorry for causing you any harm fair maiden, you see I've been looking for some work… It's tough times in the city, and I was hoping to find some out here in the countryside."

"You see, I have no family. I've been wandering the country side for quite some time and since winter is approaching, well as you see for yourself my lovely maiden, sleeping outside is not a good option for me."

"It's asking a lot from you, but would you mind if I worked here, I have…some experience in farming per say."

The nerve of this man! First he show up out of nowhere and now he's begging for a job? What a bummer! But could he have something to do with her amnesia? There's something to him, like a mystery. The pain in her chest seems to have calmed down, rather than the pain, it was beating hard. Perhaps this man…

No, he's just a wanderer, probably has nothing to do with her lost memory. Yet, perhaps this is the key, he's a stranger so he can't judge her for whatever her request is.

"Steiner was it? Well…I have no idea why you're asking me to hire you but..." she looked at him. He had a complete poker face. Unreadable. Damn. "OK, but I've got some conditions." He smirked.

"Oh? And what would they be my lovely maiden?"

She took a deep breath. "I lost a memory and I need someone to help me find it."


	4. Chapter 4

Jill's smile had widened ten-fold when Thomas gave her the money for her crops. The harvest went well this year, and not only was she able to store enough food to last her through the winter, but she was given a large paycheck for her hard work.

Oh, and also Steiner's hard work too, she mustn't forget his help.

He wasn't the fastest of workers, but he had an idea what to do. He seemed to do better with plants; it's almost as if the animals had some hostility towards him. Either way, she was thankful he came along. With the extra help in hand, she was able to harvest all her crops and gather all the eggs and milk to ship. In any normal circumstance, she would have had to wait till the next day to attend to her animals due to her over planting. In the distance, Jill saw a familiar face walking towards the farm. She waved.

"Oi, Steiner, I want you to meet someone."

He's seen the man before, who could forget those bushy eyebrows? Steiner has never actually talked with the man face to face, but he knew quite a bit about him.

"Steiner, this is Takakura, co-owner of the farm. Takakura, this is Steiner, I hired him to help out as a farm hand."

Takakura gave him the one over, and seemed to disapprove. An awkward silence held for about a minute.

Holding out his hand, Steiner said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Takakura, I hope to be of good service."

Takakura looked at him like he was a foreign tourist, "Well…Steiner, you seem to be a…well kept young man. You a city slicker?"

"Takakura!"

Takakura snorted. "It's not that hard to tell Jill, all I'm going to say is that he better be a damn good worker if you plan to keep him."

Jill leaned forward to the older man, out of Steiner's ear shot. "He was literally frozen on my door step Takakura, are you saying that I should have told him to beat it?"

"No, of course not...it's just that-"

"Then quit worrying! He's already helped out a lot, think about the time we'll save with an extra farm hand!"

"Well…Alright, but I've just got one question, where is he supposed to sleep?"

"…..oh." she hadn't thought about that.

Steiner gently butted in. "If you don't mind me having a say, I don't mind sleeping in the barn."

"That's not such a good idea. It gets pretty rank in there during snow storms, you can stay in my house Steiner. I just recently had my house expanded so I have a guest room now."

Takakura raised an eyebrow slightly. "But you're a girl Jill-."

"Don't be so old fashioned Tak! It's not like we're sharing a bed." Jill smiled, she handed Takakura a large crate. "I packed some of the extra fall crops for you. The carrots came in pretty late, but they'll taste just fine."

Takakura just mumbled. "Your Dad would disapprove of this so much…" but he left to his cabin with no other objections. At least, he didn't say them loud enough for Jill to hear.

Both of the young adults watched Takakura walk back. Steiner tugged his black beanie down a little over his ears. "I'm going to assume the reason that you want me to live with you is because of the deal?"

"Sort of, but mostly because if you're going to work for me, you're going to be doing some of my house chores." She turned to him and handed him an envelope. "Here, it's your first pay check. You earned it noob." She turned to her house and noticed that he was following her. "The hell? What are you doing?"

"I'm living with you, remember."

Dinner was slightly awkward. There was no getting around it. From food preparation to actually eating the meal, she could not break the thick tension.

"You don't like curry noodles?" she slurped hers with no problem, but Steiner looked at his with hidden disgust.

"I'm afraid no maiden." He sighed. "It's a pity to waste this meal, you put so much work into it. I apologize."

Jill laughed. "No worries, If you don't like it you don't have to eat it. I made some red curry last night, you want the leftovers?"

"That would be preferable." He smiled a bit. 'What a pretty smile.' She thought as she got up to re-heat the curry. When she came back, she noticed he was curiously staring at her wall, "I see you've taken interest in my scroll." He looked back to her as she set down his curry.

The scroll, was something that Jill found in Tak's attic about two weeks ago during a hunt for his old accounting books. She had stumbled upon it, and found it to be rather pretty, and familiar. She had then remembered that when she was younger, her mother told her a story, which was similarly illustrated on the scroll. On the scroll, was a wreath of forget-me not's, kneeling below it, was a woman figure with black hair. For sentimental reasons, Jill had decided to hang it in her house.

"It's rather pretty; I'm assuming it's a fifteenth century piece?"

Jill felt rather impressed. "You'd get along with my friend Flora. Are you into old art as well?"

Steiner chuckled, "You could say that. I dealt with quite a bit of old pieces back when I lived in the cities. Mostly with art pieces." He turned his attention back to the scroll. "It looks like it's worth quite a bit. Is there history behind this?"

She sighed. "Sort of. It was something I found a few weeks ago. It reminded me of an old childhood story." She looked up to find Steiner very interested. Jill laughed. "It really won't make much sense unless you've lived here for a while."

"If it's not too much fair maiden, I'd like to hear it." He said patiently.

Jill smiled to herself. It was her most favorite story that her mother had told her. "A long time ago," she started, "A great drought came and destroyed the once powerful Kingdom."

"There were many reasons that the drought had occurred, but the most widely accepted idea was that the Harvest God was angry that no one paid attention to his sister, the Harvest Goddess. In order to appease him, he demanded that the people as a whole must give up one person to become a servant of the Witch Princess as punishment for the people's rudeness. Being the Witch Princess' servant was a pretty big punishment because she worked her servants to a never ending exhaustion. It was decide, that the fiancée of the prince of the valley, was to become the chosen servant. Her name was long forgotten, but she was known as 'the foreign beauty of the east.'

"Yet, one person in the valley did not agree with this. The prince himself, who was very much in love with this woman, did not want her to suffer for this unjust fate. He instead, ordered a simple farm man to give up his only daughter instead. She was equally beautiful, but unlike the rest of the valley, she actually remembered to give offerings to the Harvest Goddess. So the daughter and princess switched places, and for a time, all was at peace.

"Until the Witch Princess herself realized, that the girl was accustomed to hard work. Realizing this, the Witch Princess told the Harvest God who became enraged. He had been tricked! He then, as an ultimate punishment to both the people of the valley and the prince, had the Witch Princess lock up the foreign beauty under thousands of floors underneath the earth in a cave, filled with demons to guard her. The Prince's punishment was to forever be reborn until he freed his beloved."

"Did he ever free her?" asked Steiner curiously. Jill laughed. He was genuinely curious!

"It's just a legend noob. It's actually true!" she got up, and began to clean the table.

"C'mon, let's call it a night."


End file.
